Talkspace stock surges on reports of possible Amwell buyout

Yahoo Finance Live anchors discuss rumors that Amwell is considering buying Talkspace.

Video Transcript

[AUDIO LOGO]

BRAD SMITH: We're also tracking shares of online therapy counseling provider Talkspace. They're skyrocketing this morning on a report that the company could be bought out by the American Well Corporation for $1.50 a share, or $200 million, here. Now, here's the context about this, of course, because there's been so many leadership changes within kind of this Talkspace turmoil that's been taking place since the time that they've been going public.

There was a lot of scrutiny about when they went public and that it was somewhat of a cash grab. Firstime Ventures has, of course, been one of the most noteworthy, most vocal investors that holds a large shareholder position in Talkspace. And they had poked at the company previously. But again, they were worth about $1.4 billion when they went public. And so now $200 million is their valuation.

JULIE HYMAN: Well, they're trading at $0.60.

BRIAN SOZZI: The whole space has gotten-- yeah, the whole space has had a valuation reset. All these upstart telehealth companies-- I look at some of the-- what is the one that Cathie Wood owns? That is coming up--

JULIE HYMAN: Teladoc.

BRIAN SOZZI: --yes, under considerable pressure.

JULIE HYMAN: Yeah, definitely. Talkspace, remember, was the company that was-- Michael Phelps was the spokes-- spokesman for this. And we saw a lot of these mental health startups in particular. Yes, you had telehealth generally, but mental health specifically also was sort of seeing a boom here, not just with ones where you interact with someone, but, you know, meditation apps, things like that, that really had a boom during the pandemic, when the easy money was flowing, right, and all of these companies were getting a lot of investment.

So this is indeed quite a-- a comedown here. Amwell reportedly would be doing a stock deal for Talkspace, which is interesting as well. And we'll see if indeed it ends up happening here, because the newspaper that reported this is the "Calcalist." So we have not gotten a confirmation of whether this deal is--

BRIAN SOZZI: Look at that chart. It is awful.

JULIE HYMAN: --actually on the table. That-- well, that's the buyer, that's the company that is buying them.

BRIAN SOZZI: That one too, awful.

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

Two steaming piles just joining forces.

JULIE HYMAN: Many, many of the charts in this space are trouble-looking charts.

[LAUGHTER]